An impossible mystery must be solved, and he is running out of time.Men have been found dead in the scarlet chamber of an Italian manor. They have no marks upon them, they have not ingested poison, there are no secret passageways in to the room. And they all have awful expressions of terror upon their faces.London, 1379. Sir John Cranston is invited to a banquet at the Regent's palace on the Thames. There he is trapped into a wager with Signor Gia...

A terrible power struggle threatens the very core of BritainIn 1376, the Black Prince dies of a terrible sickness, closely followed by his father, King Edward III in 1377. The crown of England is left in the hands of a mere boy, and the great nobles gather like hungry wolves round the empty throne.Soon the prelates of the church and the powerful Merchant Princes of London are drawn in. One of these, Sir Thomas Springall, ...

The sins of the father shall be visited upon the son.June, 1381. The rebel armies are massed outside London, determined to overturn both Crown and Church. The Regent, John of Gaunt, has headed north, leaving his nephew, the boy-king Richard II, unprotected.Brother Athelstan would prefer to be protecting his parishioners at St Erconwald's. Instead, he finds himself investigating a royal murder that took place fifty-four ye...

In a city seething with discontent, an ancient grudge is about to be settled.December, 1377. As London prepares for Christmas, a great frost has the city in its icy grip; even the Thames is frozen from bank to bank.The Constable of the Tower of London, Sir Ralph Whitton, is found murdered in a cold bleak chamber. The door is still locked from the inside and guarded by trusted retainers. So how did the assassin get in?Brother Athelstan

Even angels have devils inside of themSummer, 1381. The Great Revolt has been crushed; the king's peace ruthlessly enforced. Brother Athelstan meanwhile is preparing for a pilgrimage to St Thomas Becket's shrine in Canterbury to give thanks for the wellbeing of his congregation.But preparations are disrupted when Athelstan is summoned to a modest house in Cheapside, scene of a brutal triple murder. One of the victims was the chief clerk of the Secret Chan...

A strange and ominous artifact could hold the key to everything...December, 1380. When the corpse of Sir Robert Kilverby is discovered in a locked room, Brother Athelstan accompanies the King's coroner to investigate.Sir Robert had in his possession a priceless relic, a sacred bloodstone, which has now disappeared. Did Sir Robert die of natural causes or was he murdered?Athelstan is sceptical of rumours of a curse hanging over Sir...

Deadly secrets dwell behind closed doors...In the summer of 1380 a French captain is murdered in Hawkmere Manor a lonely, gloomy dwelling place, otherwise known as the 'Devil's Domain'.The house is used by Regent John of Gaunt to house French prisoners, captured during the bloody battles waged between the French and the English on the Narrow Seas.Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan are summoned to investigate ...

Can he crack the code before the Great Revolt begins?May, 1381. As the Great Revolt draws ever nearer, rebels openly roam the streets of London, waiting for the violence to begin. Their mysterious envoy, the Herald of Hell, appears at night all over the city, striking terror into the hearts of those who oppose them. But who is he?When his chancery clerk is found hanged in a notorious Southwark brothel, the ruthless Thibault, John of Gaunt...

The kingdom teeters on a knife edge, and one man would throw it into chaosAutumn, 1379. The power of the crown is invested in John of Gaunt, and the kingdom is seething with discontent. The French are attacking the southern ports and the peasants are planning a revolt organised by a mysterious leader who proclaims himself as 'IRA DEI', the anger of God.When Gaunt's plans to win over the merchant princes of London are plunged into chaos by a series of bloo...

All the depravity and evil of man is found upon the stage.January, 1381. Guests of the Regent, John of Gaunt, Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston have been attending a mystery play performed by the Straw Men, Gaunt's personal acting troupe.The evening's entertainment, however, is suddenly and brutally interrupted by the violent deaths of two of Gaunt's guests, their severed heads left on stage.The Regent order...

Scandal, murder and treason Athelstan and Cranston are back with a bang.Winter, 1379. French privateers are attacking the southern coast and threaten London itself, the very heart of the nation.The situation becomes dire when an English flotilla of warships, with the colossal God's Bright Light among them, drops anchor in the Thames; during the first night, the entire watch of the ship disappears without a trace.The series of murderous and strange inciden...

Once again Athelstan must enter the murky world of murder, where nothing is as it seems.February, 1381. London lies frozen in the grip of one of the bitterest winters on record. The ever-rising taxes demanded by the Regent, John of Gaunt, are causing increasing resentment among the city's poor.The seething unrest boils over into a bloody massacre at a splendid Southwark tavern, The Candle Flame, in which nine people, including Gaunt's tax collectors, are ...